Saturday, April 01, 2006

Cleaning Gold

Cleaning gold is often not given much thought but it is important that you do give some thought and time to cleaning your gold. Especially gold jewellery.

Here are some guidelines therefore that will help to ensure that you keep yourgold jewellery sparkling and pristine clean.

Most gold jewellery is not pure, which is to say it is not 24 carat, but usually 22 or 14 or even 9 carat. This means that the gold has been mixed with other metals such as silver, copper etc.

As a result, many of the substances we use these days have chemicals in that are not suitable for gold or even the metals gold is mixed with.

Hairspray, shaving creams perfume even, make up and other substances we put on our bodies. Take off the gold jewellery before applying these substances and it is advisable not to wear one’s jewellery 24 hours a day but let it ‘rest’ for a while.

Do not use chlorine or other bleaches to clean gold (also do not wear gold in a swimming pool). Chlorine will oxidize the metal and turn in black.

To clean your gold use soapy water and a soft bristle brush. Old toothbrushes are ideal for this. After cleaning ensure the piece is thoroughly rinsed so there are no cloggy soapy bits left behind. Also ensure the jewellery is completely dry before you store it. Any moisture can cause weakness in clasps and spring, sometimes these are not made of gold and can even rust or oxidize.

Lastly each piece should be stored separately not with others to avoid scratching. Especially if there are diamonds as they can certainly scratch rings and gold which is a soft metal.

Following the above guidelines for cleaning gold will ensure that your gold jewellery will be long lasting and remain pristine in its condition.